Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby says four quarterbacks stand out as the hardest in the NFL to sack.
Asked in a kick.com interview who he considers the hardest to sack in the league, Crosby named Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield.
“Mahomes has definitely got to be up there, Lamar is a freak athlete, he’s so quick and fast. Josh Allen is like my size playing quarterback, but you’ve got to really fucking tackle him. I’d say those three are the top,” Crosby said. “A sleeper one, too: Baker Mayfield. He pissed me off. I had two of them I should have had on him. He ducked under, got under them. I was fucking livid. Baker’s tough. I like Baker.”
Crosby never sacked Mayfield in that game (the photo accompanying this post shows one of the near-sacks that Mayfield escaped), and Mayfield threw for three touchdown passes in a 28-13 Buccaneers win. Crosby hasn’t forgotten.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said during the offseason program that his goal is to be ready for Week 1, despite suffering a torn ACL in December.
With training camp just around the corner, that goal is starting to seem more and more in reach.
Mahomes reiterated his stance during an interview with Yahoo Sports Daily on Wednesday.
“That’s my goal,” Mahomes said. “I’ve said that since the beginning, is being ready to go Week 1. I can’t predict the future, and I know that it’s a long process. It’s not just my decision, but at the same time I’m going to give the doctors and the coaches every single opportunity I can to let me be out there Week 1.”
The Broncos being the season-opening opponent adds an extra layer of motivation for the three-time Super Bowl champion.
“I don’t want to miss that game because that’s the team that won the division while we were gone, and you want to be out there and ready to go with your teammates,” Mahomes said. “I’ll give every single thing I can to be out there Week 1, and hopefully the doctors and the coaches give me the green light, and I’m able to go out there with my guys and compete against one of the best teams in the league.”
Mahomes acknowledged that his return has been “a long process,” but feels like he’s in a good spot with training camp set to begin at the end of the month.
“[A]ll I can do is be as great as I can be every single day,” Mahomes said. “You just have to maximize that day and slowly get better and better as the year goes on.
“I’m excited to get back to training camp. I’m excited to get the guys back around. I’ve kind of been in the building in Kansas City by myself. Just [to] have the guys back and getting to be on the football field will get me going and get me ready for the season.”
Chiefs rookies and veterans are set to report to training camp on July 28.
Former NFL linebacker Darron Lee, a first-round pick in the 2016 draft, has hired a lawyer to represent Lee on first-degree murder charges in Hamilton County, Tennessee.
Via WDEF, former Hamilton County District Attorney Neil Pinkston will be handling the case. He has entered no plea on Lee’s behalf, which is the same as entering a plea of not guilty.
Lee is accused of killing his girlfriend, Gabriella Perpetuo, in February 2026. The details of Perpetuo’s injuries are extensive and graphic.
The case against Lee includes evidence that he used ChatGPT for advice on how to deal with an unresponsive person.
Lee could face the death penalty. The prosecution has not yet announced whether it will be seeking it.
Lee was drafted by the Jets ten years ago. He also played for the Chiefs and Bills.
Who would say no to an invitation to the Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift wedding?
Charles Barkley would. And did.
Via Brandon Contes of Awful Announcing, Barkley said on 97.5 The Fanatic that he was invited to the event, but he chose not to go.
“I don’t go to weddings or funerals,” Barkley said. “But I did get an invite, and I politely declined because I thought it was going to be a crap show. I love Travis and Jason, and I’ve only met Taylor one time, but yeah, I did get an invite. But I said, that’s just too much. I just want to hang out and play golf, and I don’t want to dress up and all that other stuff. But I appreciate the invitation. It was pretty special.”
The invitation reportedly came with an NDA. And, frankly, it’s easy to envision Barkley saying he’s not signing any damn NDA.
Generally, I agree with his approach. I rarely go to weddings. And funerals are sad and awkward and stressful but, sometimes, you just have to go. (Especially to your own.)
For Barkley, who is hilarious and blunt and gives no effs and who I could listen to all day long (especially if Shaq is around), there’s one way they could have enticed him to show up — they could have added a note in the invitation that the menu will include churros.
The NFL is making a significant change to the offseason calendar for the 2027 season.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the free agent negotiating window will open on March 9 next year. That is the same date that the two-day window opened this year, but the change comes in how close it will be to the end of the Scouting Combine.
NFL teams will wrap up their examinations and interrogations of incoming prospects on March 8 in 2027, which moves the league away from having a week or so between the two events as they have in past years.
Under that setup, the Combine has always been rife with table-setting for free agency as agents and team executives are all in the same place with their minds on the same things. With that gap eliminated, there will likely be even more of that work being done in Indianapolis so that teams are ready to make moves right from the starting gun.
